The Shadow War
by IcyPhoenix22
Summary: Voldemort is remembered for his madness, but what drove him to it? What if there were shadows hidden in the madness, shadows that will plunge the magical world into true darkness. (100yrs after last book)
1. Chapter 1: Salazar

Hello all, Icy here!

It has been a while since I last wrote but I'm starting to feel the need to write and create again. This is my new piece, The Shadow War. I have a very interesting plot planned for this story and I'm sure you will all find it very satisfying. The story begins 100 years after the Deathly Hallows (or around 80 years if you count from little Albus, Rose and Scorpius' first day of school) Please enjoy!

As always, I do not own anything which you may recognise from other talented authors/directors (got some inspirations from movies).

xxxxx

Chapter 1: Salazar

"Lord Voldemort was without a doubt the worse dark wizard that reign, perhaps only surpassed by Lady Morgana who contrary to popular belief, was actually successful in conquering most of the world before being defeated by Merlin when her path of domination finally led her to Britain. Even so, Lord Voldemort's lack of ambition in his conquest was by no mean an indication of his lack of ferociousness, his madness of the mind rarely reflected in his tactical ability which involves both political and physical conquest."

Frantic scratching of pens, pencils and quills on paper accompanied the brief pause as Professor Fern took a sip of water from the glass next to him. Salazar Malfoy looked longingly at the muggle instruments which were favoured by most students and after an inaudible sigh, returned to his own notes, dipping quill to ink periodically as Professor Fern continued.

"It was said that the reason behind his focus on Europe was that Voldemort believed that Albus Dumbledore, our esteem ex-headmaster, was someone he must defeat at all cost before attempting to broaden his plans. Indeed Dumbledore who triumphed over Grindelwald, another dark wizard who reigned prior to Voldemort, was constantly able to outsmart Voldemort. Even Dumbledore's demise was planned to give an edge to Harry Potter who ultimately defeated Voldemort in an epic duel. It was said that expelliarmus was used to…"

Salazar snorted at the Professor's excited telling of a probably dramatized account of the real event. The Gryfindors in the room were hanging by the edge of their seat in excitement, eager to hear about the epic dual which Salazar couldn't care less about. War and battles are not things to get excited about, the young Malfoy could still recall his grandfather, Scorpius' tales of the war his great grandparents fought. Draco Malfoy, the man to change the history of the Malfoy family never did recover from the emotional trauma. At the man's deathbed, a time when Salazar was too young to remember, it was said his great grandfather was afraid to meet with the dead, of whom he most feared meeting Lord Voldemort who he betrayed and Albus Dumbledore who died due to his actions.

The loud ringing of a bell signalled the end of a long history class. Salazar really despised the subject, after all there were more important things to learn like magic, potions and even Muggle inventions. Though he supposed the classes with Professor Fern was a vast improvement to the classes with the ghost professor Binns. Thanks to the efforts of Minerva Mcgonagall during her term of office as Headmistress of Hogwarts, Professor Binns, whose knowledge of magic history did not cover anything from the last two centuries, had been supplemented by another professor who specialised in modern history.

"Sal, we are going to be late for potions if you don't hurry up."

"Well excuse me for needing to pack up my quill and inkpot!" Salazar replied to the boy standing next to his chair, tapping his foot impatiently.

"You know your grand isn't going to find out if you use my pens to take notes right?" The boy asked.

Salazar sighed at his friend Thomas who just answered his own question while imitating Salazar's voice.

"No Malfoy ever goes back on his words! Yes, yes, I know. Now can we get going before we miss anything important?"

The two boys raced off to their new class, unfortunately running into the resident poltergeist. Salazar stared at the blue ghost with annoyance, the hateful creature had it out for him. Sometimes Salazar wondered how the famous twin pranksters got Peeves on their side, all he could do was have uncivilised debates with the darn thing, though he supposed it was a lot better than what others had to deal with.

"Oooooh, here comes the mighty Salazar. But why does he look so… blue?"

Salazar groaned at the line of attack, here comes the house jokes.

"Says the smurf!" Thomas shouted back in defence of his friend. Salazar assumed smurf must be a muggle reference since neither Peeves nor he understood the retort.

"So Salazar, if I throw you some bread would you caw for me?"

"Ha ha, very amusing." Salazar deadpanned. He ignored the poltergeist as it followed him and continued making jokes about the ironic relation between Salazar's name and house. Salazar just straightened his blue tie, he had five years to come to terms with the irony and he's not going to cry just because he was a Ravenclaw.

"Looks like little Draco made a change to the family motto…"

Salazar snapped and hurled his copy of Great Wizards and Witches of the Past at Peeves, who simply allowed the object to sail through his body. Huffing in anger the teen stomped off, leaving Thomas to quietly summon the hefty book for his friend while shooting Peeves the evil eye. Salazar continued fuming all the way to the dungeons, seriously debating in his head to invent something for exorcising of nasty, inkpot throwing pests.

His name may be the embodiment of irony here at Hogwarts, but he was proud of the name his great grandfather gave him. Grandfather had told him that the name was to symbolise their proud Malfoy history, which though changing with every recent generation, was nevertheless a great, old, magical family with long ties to the house of Salazar Slytherin. True the Malfoys were no longer the pure-blood family of old thanks to his dad marrying Salazar's muggle-born mum but they were still a proud family.

Salazar sometimes wondered about the confusing and bewildering Malfoy history but grandpa Scorpius had always insisted that Draco did the family name justice by changing their view and ultimately the whole society's view of the Malfoys as a whole. Even so, his grand's objection to using muggle instruments... Well, Salazar understood the reason behind that one but for goodness sakes, was there even any family home nowadays with no television? Even if not everyone found muggle entertainment entertaining, it was still good for teaching wizards and witches about the muggle community.

The door to their classroom opened just as the two boys arrived and they joined their fellow fifth years in.

"As you all know, in order to continue into NEWT level potions, you will have to achieve at least an E in your upcoming OWLs. I believe most of you are curious about the level I expect from you so today we will be having a taste of what to expect in the advance level potions work. This should give you some insight to first, why you are required to do well in your OWLs to continue and second, what type of work you may be able to do if you achieve NEWT level potions."

Salazar and Thomas both sat up straight in their seat along with a few other Ravenclaws. This lesson had been hinted by the upperclassmen and it was said to be really useful for considering career choices which all fifth year students would be required to discuss with their head of house after the Christmas and New Year break.

"In front of you is a copy of Encyclopaedia of Basic Ingredients. You will find if you flip to any page, ingredients you are probably familiar with along with description of properties and uses."

Salazar and Thomas thumbed through the book sitting between them and settled on a page detailing the newt tail. The list of properties included things such as neutralizing agent to combustible ingredients or slow warming effect. Thomas looked slightly overwhelmed by the amount of information on the page but Salazar felt completely contented. Everyone had their own strengths and weaknesses and Salazar's was without a doubt inventing. When your heroes were the founders of Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, there was simply no way a boy could resist inventing a few things and causing a few explosions.

"Now, each pair is to brew a simple potion which you are familiar with and attempt to substitute an ingredient with another using the encyclopaedia. DO NOT try the substitution you have decided on until you have consulted with me beforehand. Come up to the front when you think you have an idea as to what potion you will brew and what to substitute."

The class busied themselves with looking through the book and Thomas prepared to do the same.

"Tom, I think I already know one!" Salazar exclaimed.

"Guessed as much, what do you have in mind?"

"Can you have a look at beetle eyes?"

"Beetle eyes… beetle eyes… Got it! What am I looking for?"

"Well, I was thinking of the cold-curing potion." Salazar hinted to his friend. Thomas gave it a thought before looking intently at the encyclopaedia, mouth moving without a sound as he scanned the properties for something which makes sense.

"OH! Targets blocked nose. Hmm, so what are you thinking of substituting with?"

"Well, I got the idea from the muggle cold treatment you suggested during our third year…"

"GINGER!" Shouted Thomas excitedly. Salazar nodded and got up to inform Professor Lupin who though appeared to be a cheerful young man, was actually older than Salazar's grandfather. Seemed the professor intended on using his Metamorph ability to live out his motto of always think (and look) young.

"First one up I see Salazar. I expected nothing less from my favourite student, though I hope your choice of ingredient isn't explosive."

"Only enough to singe my other eyebrow." Both student and teacher laughed at the reply, thinking back to the first time Salazar had actually tried substituting ingredients in class because he ran out of Kelpie webbings. While the potion he was brewing was actually a success, the process did burn off Salazar's left eyebrow.

"Well, jokes aside Mr Malfoy, what do you have planned?" Professor Lupin asked the teen who, he had grown to like for the talent shown many times in class. A talent like this should be nurtured and the professor knew his own godfather in the great beyond would be proud he was doing the role of mentor justice. And really, a Malfoy as well, the man would definitely be happy all those old barriers are crumbling away.

"We have decided to do a simple cold-curing potion, substituting beetle eyes with ginger."

"Ginger huh? That isn't in the book is it Mr Malfoy?"

"No…" Salazar hesitated, realising he forgot to check the substitution ingredient in the book. He added hurriedly after, "But it is a non-magical ingredient so it shouldn't create any drastic reaction!"

Professor Lupin gave his student a critical stare, considering the reaction.

"In this instance, what you just said is correct. Very well, and the preparation of the ginger?"

"The beetle eyes were added as they were to the cold brewing potions so maybe the same for the ginger? Though I suppose a non-magical ingredient won't be very potent intact so maybe slice or dice the ginger?" Salazar debated while attempting to answer the question. It seemed he had also forgotten to take the preparation into consideration. Professor Lupin had his back turn rummaging his cupboard for a ginger so there were no facial cues to hint at the accuracy of his answer.

"Three thin slices will do Mr Malfoy. Don't worry, you weren't expected to give me an answer in this lesson but well done at analysing the ingredient all the same." Professor Lupin said, handing Salazar a small section of ginger.

Salazar smiled at the compliment he just received and made his way back to Thomas who was busy preparing the other ingredients next to their cauldron. Salazar really hoped he could get into NEWT level potions, seemed like potion invention may actually be a viable career prospect. Picking up his favourite knife he began slicing the ginger in his hand.

X X X

Inside the Ravenclaw common room, a group of fifth years were debating quietly in one corner. Such a sight was hardly uncommon when a group of what could very well be termed geniuses were grouped together for years, each with their own thoughts on everything and anything, but today the discussion was not of an intellectual nature.

"I am sure it is on the seventh floor so let's go!" Salazar exclaimed.

"I don't think that's a good idea…" A red hair girl voiced.

"Come on Sarah!" Another girl with red hair nudged the first.

"Yea, come on Weasley!" Salazar whined. Both girls glared at the young Malfoy but Salazar just smirked. Traditions must be upheld even if Malfoys and Weasleys had been friends for many decades.

"Ignore him." Thomas interjected. "Anyway, it would be fun. In any case Sarah, we aren't breaking any rules so why not?"

Sarah twisted her curly red hair in her typical nervous manner before finally giving in with a sigh. Her twin sister Cathy cheered and the two boys grinned.

That evening, before the curfew as Thomas repeatedly pointed out to Sarah to reassure her, the four made their way to a seventh floor corridor which should house one of the most stumbled across secret of Hogwarts. What they hoped to find in the famous Room of Requirements was a mystery though.

"So… How do we know we got the right spot?" Cathy asked. Salazar looked around and found a weird painting showing someone attempting to teach trolls dancing.

"A painting that ridiculous must hide some secrets right?" Salazar said while pointing at it.

"Maybe we can get in via the painting like the kitchen?" Thomas supplied.

"Don't see anything I'm inclined to tickle." Cathy said while staring at the ugly trolls in what had to be tutus.

All four students frowned and continued to brainstorm ideas while eyeing the painting. Spells to reveal secret passages or rooms were fired at the painting to the objection of Sarah who refused to break any rules.

"Seriously Sarah, you are related to the great Fred and George Weasley, how can you be against breaking rules?" Salazar demanded.

"They are our great granduncle, I hardly count that as much of a direct relation." Sarah retorted. "Anyway, it's getting close to curfew so we best be heading back."

"Goody-two-shoe Weasley can head back, I'm getting into the room tonight!" Salazar declared.

"Geez, I would have help you argue your point you know if you didn't pit me against you." Cathy groaned. "Fine, we Weasleys will head back first as the CUNNING pair so we can say told you so when you guys get caught."

"Burn! Seriously though, again with the Malfoy and Weasleys act?" Thomas commented with raised eyebrows.

The two girls left the two boys to their own devices as the attempts at entering the secret room continued to hit a dead end. The two boys finally sat down on the floor, backs against the opposite wall after another half an hour with no result with the painting.

"Do you think we are at the right spot?"

"I think so, it is definitely at one of the seventh floor corridors."

"This isn't the only corridor you know?"

"But this leads to a dead end, why else would this corridor be here if not as a passage to a hidden room?"

Salazar stood up again and started to pace as he usually did when confronted with a tricky problem. The room must be here but how could it be revealed. He thought about methods not involving spell work. Maybe the problem was the lack of direction as to what the teens wanted from the room, it is the Room of Requirements. Salazar immediately pondered about what others would want the room for, maybe to hide themselves, or things, or even both.

Unknown to both boys, a door appeared behind the boys silently, the room recognising the call of another student attempting to seek the room of hidden things.

"I think the girls might be right about calling the quits, if we run we may still make it back to the common room before the curfew you know." Thomas moaned as he rubbed his eyes tiredly.

"You may be right…" Salazar left his sentence hanging as he turned around to face Thomas only to find the boy leaning right next to a door which wasn't there seconds ago.

Thomas turned to see what had captured his friend's attention and found himself also staring at the door with mouth agape.

"THE ROOM OF REQIREMENT!" Both boys exclaimed and as one they reached out to open the door.

The room yielded its secrets willingly and they found themselves looking at a spacious room with surprisingly large piles of burnt objects.

"Is it just me or is everything burnt?"

"No, everything has been burnt." Salazar ran his finger along a blackened chair and was shocked to find it crumple as ash underneath his hand.

"What the hell happened here?"

The two looked around and slowly began to make out some objects with a distinctively non-blacken texture. Here and there if one looked carefully enough were items half hidden underneath soot, ashes and other burnt furniture and oddities.

"So there are things here which survived whatever fire burnt here. Or maybe other people left stuff here after the fire." Thomas commented, picking up a sherry bottle from a pile left under what once was a green sofa, though it was hard to tell in its current condition.

"Yea, people must be trying to hide their stuff or else these things should be on top." Salazar added. "OH! I was thinking about a place people hide stuff, that must be how we got into this place."

"Well since we are here let's see if we can find anything fun."

It didn't take long for one of the boys to find a Fanged Frisbee lazily flying about. The boys took turns throwing the Frisbee at each other, the other one running franticly to avoid getting bitten in the arse.

"Ouch!" Salazar cried as he tripped over some pieces of a suit of armour.

"Haha, knew I could beat you in Frisbee, fanged or not this is definitely a muggle thing."

"Is not! And you didn't get me, I just tripped."

"Oh that is so much better." Thomas snickered. "The great Malfoy tripping over his own feet."

"It was this armour, not my own feet!" Salazar picked himself up and dusted off his robes. A glint of something red caught his eye though. Reaching his hand into the armour chest plate to retrieve the item while Thomas commented that they best get going, Salazar pulled out a red diary.

"What is that, some old diary? Not that great a find mate."

Salazar agreed but still curious, decided to take it with him. The faded red reminded him of some of the old books kept by his grandfather, many of which were chronicles of the Malfoy history and a great read. Flipping it open as he walked out with Thomas, he found a name he didn't recognised written in childish writing.

"Wonder who this is? Tom Marvolo Riddle."

xxxxx

I look forward to your reviews.

Also if you like a more detail summary of where the story is going, feel free to message me. Be warn though, spoiler alert!


	2. Chapter 2: Marvolo

My fingers just wouldn't stop typing so second chapter already here. Fastest I've ever written a chapter.

Hope you like it!

xxxxx

Chapter 2: Marvolo

"I told you so!" Cathy shouted triumphantly.

"I thought you were going to stay anyway." Salazar grumbled

"And thanks to you I didn't, saving me a Friday evening detention."

Both boys grimaced, and the red hair twins sat down opposite their friends. The great hall was still mostly empty which Salazar and Thomas were grateful for. Cathy always did have one heck of a loud voice and frankly nobody liked having everyone else knowing you got in trouble and loss house points. Ravenclaws took house points very seriously since it spoke volumes about their intellectual ability. Scores were to be fought with wit in class and no way were they losing to the other houses.

"Ahh, don't be so down, it's not like it's on Saturday. Now that would have been a real bummer considering the Ravenclaw-Gryfindor match is on." Sarah comforted the two disgruntled boys while Cathy started on her breakfast.

"Did you guys even get into the Room of Requirement?" Cathy asked after a mouthful of orange juice. Both boys lifted their downcast expressions immediately. "Darn! So I should have stayed!"

"Did you forget they got detention for their effort?" Sarah reminded her sister. The boys glared at her.

"That was the worse attempt to comfort someone I've ever ex..."

"Oh whatever, now, Room of Requirements, what was it like?" Cathy interrupted Thomas.

"Well, I think we got into a place where people hid things." Salazar answered, "Though there must had been one heck of a fire a while back cause nearly everything was burnt."

"There were some new stuff though, we think they were hidden there after the fire." Thomas added.

"Like what?"

"Well, you know the list of banned items like all those from your Aunt's shop. We found a lot of those, as a matter of fact I got Sal on the arse with a Fanged Frisbee."

"You did not, I just tripped."

"Keep telling yourself that."

"I did so! I still have the book to prove it."

"You tripped over a book?" Sarah asked with a raised eyebrow.

"N… not a book." Salazar answered fearfully. Sarah was said to be the embodiment of her great grandma, a witch who worshipped books and could devour library in mere days. Sarah loved books a lot and to degrade a book in her presence was something Salazar really did not believed he could live through. "I… I just tripped over a piece of armour and the book happened to be in it."

Sarah gave Salazar an odd look while Cathy and Thomas held back their giggles. Seeing Sarah was only surprised by the tripping part, Salazar gave his best mate a punch.

"Ouch! It's not my fault! And while we are talking about the book, why did you keep it anyway?"

"Umm, not sure actually. It did look interesting."

"Never knew you were interested in other people's life story."

"It is a diary?" Cathy asked.

"Yea, someone called Tom Riddle."

"That sounds familiar." Both Sarah and Cathy said together. Salazar thought so too but he just couldn't remember where he had heard of the name. It sounded like something from stories which his great grandfather told him but then who could remember things you heard about when you were three or four.

As the great hall slowly filled with students and teachers, the four finished their breakfast to rush off to the library. Salazar always found it funny whenever they did this, Ravenclaws really did lived up to the expectation sometimes. Today they were looking to get a head start on their history homework, especially for the boys who would be losing an evening the next day to assist old man Kas in restocking cleaning supplies in the broom cupboards.

"Where do you think we should start?" Thomas asked as they settled around a well-lit table.

"Well I think the topic is a bit broad since it effectively covers two wizard wars." Cathy inputted.

"How did society change during Voldemort's reign?" Salazar read the homework question from his notes.

"Maybe we can narrow it to the second war."

"But a lot of changes also happen during the initial stage of a dark wizard's rise to power."

"We could also narrow the area of society we wanted to focus." Sarah interjected after some consideration.

Everyone nodded at the idea, it did give the question more of a purpose as a useful discussion topic rather than a useless homework question. After another minute of discussion, each person fell silent as they started on their decided area of response to the essay question.

Each of the four could be seen occasionally leaving the table to find some references from books on the shelves, occasionally bringing back one or two books which may be useful to others. Salazar twirled his quill slowly around, contemplating the affect the strengthened pure-blood movement had on the muggle-magician relations. As far as he knew, the relationship with muggles at the time only existed in the form of communication between heads of the two societies and family members in the case of muggle-borns like Thomas and half-bloods with one muggle parent.

There should be a book detailing pure-blood movements at the time and those should include Voldemort when he was younger, the guy was a pure-blood fanatic after all. From reading the writing written by one of those people, it should be easy to deduce the impact and state of the muggle side of society due to Voldemort.

Salazar browsed the shelves but found nothing containing writing from the pure-blood extremists. The school library might not be the best place to find such books in retrospect, or maybe they were hidden away in the restricted section away from young impressionable minds. Well, closest Salazar could get was a book of the old pure-blood houses. Salazar flipped through the pages of Pure-Blood Directory, not expecting much but paused suddenly at a page titled the House of Gaunts. There right at the bottom was a Marvolo Gaunt.

"Guys, look at this!" Salazar whispered excitedly to the other three. All three looked up only to lower their head again to the book Salazar placed on the table, "See that name?"

"What about it?" Cathy asked.

"Marvolo… Isn't that the middle name of the Riddle guy who owns the diary?"

"Yep, and this guys must be his dad or something."

"Sal, you stopped us for that?" Sarah asked incredulously.

"But the diary was blank and none of the revealing spells worked."

"Yes but you could have told us later. If you want a hand it's not like we won't help you."

"Who are you and what did you do to Sarah?" asked Thomas, "Sarah would never do something like reading other's secrets."

"I don't like breaking rules. I don't have a problem sneaking a peak at a diary. And if what Sal said is correct, the owner is probably long dead anyway so he wouldn't mind."

"You don't know that."

"Regardless, the first class will be beginning soon so maybe more working and less chatting."

X X X

Salazar sighed, looking at the E he got on his transfiguration essay. He thought he did really well in breaking down the fine details of matter location after being vanished. Well, at least the others didn't beat him, if anyone got an O, Professor Hopkins always gave them thirty house points as she handed the work back.

"Man, I was sure I got an O!" Thomas complained, reflecting Salazar's own thoughts. "Could really use the points since we lost some last night."

"At least the girls didn't beat us."

"Is it just me or do you only call them Weasleys when they are around?"

"J…just you."

"Ooooh, I think I smell something fishy. You're definitely turning a bit pink."

"Maybe you just stink and need to take a shower." Salazar replied, faced turned slightly from his smirking friend.

"I know you like one of them so spill!" Thomas continued, digging his elbow into Salazar's ribs.

"Hey guys, what are you talking about?"

Speak of the devils, Thomas thought, as two sets of red hair turned the corner and walked towards them. Both Thomas and Salazar broke off the scuffle that was just beginning.

"Nothing much." Thomas replied, a wild grin still set on his face.

"Well we don't have much work today so maybe we can finish practising the vanishing spell before we help Sal with his diary." Sarah said, totally oblivious to Salazar's embarrassment. Thomas decided to give his mate a break.

"Of course, because we all know you have this interesting hobby of peeking at – ooof." Thomas began before taking a fist to the stomach.

"Let's go back to the common room to practise." Sarah led the way and the two boys each gave the other knowing looks before following. Weasley girls, always so aggressive when provoked thought Salazar as they scaled the stairs up Ravenclaw tower.

The four rounded the set of stairs to find themselves in front of a door with a familiar brass eagle shaped knocker.

"How are you sir?" Asked Cathy in a sweet voice. The three behind her grinned.

"Very well my dear." The knocker replied, "But I'm afraid I won't be asking you the same thing young lady. Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame on me."

"Aww, that's no fun! And I was going to tell you all about this place we found with an awesome looking eagle knocker." Cathy said, looking back at the others and giving them a wink. The others looked at the knocker and nodded.

"You found another eagle knocker? Where?" The knocker asked excitedly.

"Nope. Got cha! But we did find you when we first entered the school. And that counts as two answers so you owe me one free passage after this one." Cathy answered cockily.

"Oh bugger!" The knocker swore, "The second one doesn't count! You didn't find me, you were shown."

"But isn't it shown where to find? In any case, by logic since we forgot the way a few times when we first came here that meant we RE-found you."

"Oh you cheeky little…" The knocker continued to grumble even as the door swung open. Cathy strutted in while the other hurried pass, not wanting to deal with the angry knocker. Salazar thought the next few people trying to get into the room might very well be stuck outside for a while. That knocker could give some nasty questions when it was in a bad mood.

The moment the door closed behind them, Thomas congratulated Cathy on a job well done.

"That was awesome."

"Yes very much living up to the great Fred and George Weasley." Salazar said admiringly. Cathy was really something when she was up for it. She'll probably be a great prankster, but then again this didn't exactly qualify as a high quality prank. Nevertheless, that was definitely some impressive skill, not sure what Rowena Ravenclaw would had thought if she saw a student tricked her invention into letting her pass through not once, or twice, but three times.

"Sound like a cunning plan to me," Sarah joined the conversation, "You sure you shouldn't be in Slytherin sister dearest?"

"Sarah, I think you meant witty so no. I didn't plan the first time you know, I just thought I might point out I answered a question from it"

"What about this time? If you planned it ahead of time that would mean trickery rather than wit."

"So where should we work?" Salazar got the others back on track, slightly eager to get studies done so they could solve the mystery of the diary. All four looked around for an empty spot and in the end sat down near one of the windows overlooking the Quidditch pitch. Salazar spotted a group of people in blue practising.

"Hector and the rest of the team are practising." Thomas commented, eyes seemingly glued to the pitch.

"Work! Distractions can come later." Sarah demanded.

"So bossy." Thomas teased, again tempting fate, or in this case a punch to the rib, "Ouch!"

The four soon settled and started practising the vanishing spell on pieces of scrap paper. Time flew by and the sky outside slowly turn dark.

"I think we should call it, we pretty much have the spell under wraps." Cathy groaned, checking her watch. Salazar copied her actions and read six fifteen.

"In that case do you want to eat first or try the diary?" Salazar asked the others.

"Not really hungry yet." Thomas supplied and as the others nodded their agreement, Salazar pulled out the red diary from his book bag.

Everyone leaned forward to take a closer look, the girls commenting on the faded red cover and the yellowing pages matching Salazar's theory of the owner being from the early to mid-twentieth century.

"Aparecium." Thomas spelled. No letters appeared on the page.

"That's the first thing I tried mate." Salazar said.

"Well, you never know with these things. There may be a specific requirement that is needed from the person. Aparecium." Cathy deduced. Still nothing appeared on the book.

For good measure Sarah took a turn and with another null result, the four started running through a range of other spells as well as other methods such as guessing passwords.

"Well Marvolo was a pure blood tracing back to Slytherin and the Peverell so maybe something like Slytherin pride." Thomas said, tracing his hand across a page titled House of Gaunt in Pure-Blood Directory, which Salazar had loaned out from the library this morning.

"Tom, nobody says Slytherin pride in the magical world." Salazar said, "Though you have a point so maybe stuff like Parseltongue or Purity…"

"Parseltongue. Snake. Purity. Pure. Green." Thomas pronounced with each tap of his wand against the page. "Oh I don't know… The great Thomas Green demands you reveal your secrets."

"That's rich."

"Well we aren't getting much result are we? Maybe… let's try that one. Mudblood."

"You can't say that!" Salazar chastised his friend.

"Meh, I'm muggle-born so that's just like calling myself a bloody idiot." Thomas shrugged.

"Now that, you definitely can't say unless you want to be thrown out of the common room by Professor Scamander." Said Cathy and Salazar privately agreed.

Professor Scamander was the head of Ravenclaw house, the teacher for Care of Magical Creatures and also world famous dragonologist. The lady was a genius with animals and probably why she seemed a bit intimidating. She tended to forget she was dealing with students rather than training riding dragons, which she actually achieved by interbreeding Norwegian Ridgeback with Common Welsh Green. The mix breed termed Greenbacks were very docile dragons which could be rode if trained at birth.

"Yeah, let's hope we continue to win the house cup. We haven't missed a single house cup since she became our head."

Silence fell as the group returned to solving the mystery sitting in front of them.

"We could always try writing on it." Sarah suggested after a while. The other three gave her perplexed expressions and she supplemented, "I heard there are books which could answer questions or just talk to you through the writing."

"That sounds a bit creepy."

"Have to agree with Tom there, that sounds like some dark artefact." Salazar thought about some of the stuff which could still be found in the Malfoy family fault in Gringotts. He snatched the pen hurriedly from Sarah, paused for a second before swapping the pen for his quill. "Let me do it just to be safe."

Salazar missed Thomas' knowing smirk, too concentrated on thinking about what to write.

"Try who are you? That should be harmless enough." Sarah said, catching on to Salazar's concerns.

Salazar gingerly wrote the words, waiting for anything to happen. The four students held their breath but after a minute, the ink still shone brightly against the yellow page.

"I guess that didn't work. Maybe it is just an ordinary diary which Riddle didn't get to use because someone stole it."

"I guess, but that writing looks like it was written by a six year old or something, so how can it be empty when it got to Hogwarts?"

"Well Tom's chicken scratch is pretty much like that," said Cathy.

"Hey! It's not like your hand writing is any better."

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

As the two continued with their argument, the ink on the page slowly turned dull as it dry. Unnoticed by everyone, the ink disappeared after it dried. Seconds later new words began to fill the page.

"Watch it." Sarah shouted as Cathy and Thomas bumped the table. The diary fell to the ground, closing during the process.

"I'm hungry so let's go eat." Thomas dodged around Cathy's outstretched hands and ran off through the common room door, follow immediately by a fast chasing Cathy and a slow walking Sarah.

"You coming?" Sarah asked at the door.

"Yea." Salazar picked up the diary, staring at the fading red cover. He couldn't quite put his finger on it but his guts were telling him this book contained something very important. Maybe he could find out more about Tom Riddle from the old books at home. There were always pure-blood genealogy books at the Malfoy mansion, even if the old traditions had long since come to pass.

"Just have to wait till the break." Salazar told himself as he followed a strand of flame red hair to dinner.

X X X

In a room of cold grey stones, four hooded figures stood at four ends of a black cross shaped table. Another two figures dressed in black knelt to the side.

"Are the preparations ready?" One of the hooded asked.

"Yes sir." The two in black replied.

"Then my brothers, when shall we strike?" The hooded discussed.

"Christmas is soon so I propose sometime after."

"We should move with caution to test our new weapons before we use them for real."

"Where are we going for the initial assault?"

"I have Intel on somewhere most suited. If we are to win, I think we should nip the bud."

"I concur, but for now, discretion is key."

"Indeed, best to move silently. We are the Shadow after all."

"Shadow." Everyone chanted.

xxxxx

Thank you for your support and please review ."


	3. Chapter 3: Quidditch

Sup guys, I am happy to see people reading my story and I hope you are all enjoying it. Do review and clue me in on your thoughts, us authors love reading reviews.

This chapter was fun to write, with lots of nice reminders of why we love the Harry Potter books. Hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

Icy

P.S. I've recently started beta-ing for Abi623 who has just started a wonderful story - "The Winding Stream of Life". If anyone is into Avatar: The last Airbender, be sure to check it out.

xxxxx

Chapter 3: Quidditch

"How are you feeling Hector?" Salazar asked

"A bit nervous but you know, pumped all the same." Hector replied. Hector Gosper was a fellow fifth year and one of the Ravenclaw chasers. A friendly guy who would be playing his second Quidditch match in less than an hour, Salazar wondered if he really felt only a bit nervous.

"Make sure to give Gryffindor hell!" Thomas thumped Hector on the back. The boy nearly choked on his apple juice and Salazar hurriedly pulled his friend along.

As usual, the two boys joined Sarah and Cathy at the table, putting together breakfast from the wide variety of food available. Salazar looked up at the enchanted ceiling and saw a clear blue sky.

"It's going to be perfect weather for the match." Cathy commented after seeing where Salazar was looking.

"Can't wait."

"So how was detention last evening?" Sarah asked.

"It was the standard boring stuff so not much to say there. Just glad it didn't go on for too long," replied Salazar. It wasn't the first time he had detention with Kas and the elderly cleaner was very nice.

"If we are paying the house elves to clean, shouldn't we not have to do it?" Thomas asked. Sarah glared at him and prepared to give him an earful.

"This and that are very different, you were doing it as punishment. In any case, their wage is still very low if you are to compare it to Kas', who by the way is far less efficient, by logic they should not be required to do much." Sarah ranted in one breath. At times like this, Salazar could really see how she took after her great grandmother. If Salazar remembered right, his first chocolate frog card was the great Hermione Granger Weasley. She got so many achievements in her lifetime that anyone would had assumed she used time tuners periodically.

"Go easy on Thomas heh?" Salazar defended his friend. "And old man Kas may not be as efficient but a human touch is still required you know."

"Sorry." Sarah apologised after a while.

"No, I'm sorry, I said something thoughtless." Thomas scratched his head embarrassed.

"Oh what the heck guys? It's the third match of the season, what's with all the downer talks!" Cathy exclaimed.

"Yeah, let's finish breakfast and go bag ourselves good seats!" Salazar added.

"Sounds good." Both Thomas and Sarah nodded.

The four teens joined the large crowd of people heading to the pitch after breakfast. The sea of red and blue made its way towards the stadium where a few prefects were attempting to keep a semi-resemblance of order. Thomas immediately ducked away for a while and the other three paused, forcing people to move around them.

"Guys, this way!" Thomas cried, waving the three over to him. Standing next to him was another Ravenclaw dressed in an eagle costume.

"Hello Solus." Cathy greeted their Ravenclaw classmate and prefect.

"Sup guys, like my costume? Thomas told me muggles have what is called maggot to cheer at sporting matches." Said the boy dressed as an eagle.

"It's mascot, not maggot." Thomas told Solus as his friends attempted to hold back their laughter.

"Is that so, well I hope you like my mascot costume. Anyway, the lower years are making it a downright pain to get into the stadium and we could use the extra hands to keep them in line until they get into the stadium."

"Solus said he can let us into the prefect's box after if we helped." Thomas supplemented.

"Right, just tell us where you want us." Cathy answered for all of them.

Solus directed each of them to areas of the stand which were congested and told them to just move the students along and into the seats.

Salazar felt his voice turned hoarse after a while, Solus wasn't kidding about how chaotic it was. Pushing his way pass a few second years, Salazar got himself behind a group of first year Slytherins.

"You guys need to keep moving, you're blocking the way." Salazar said gently, nudging the two closest to him forward.

"But there's no spot," one of the first years pointed out. Salazar took a look through the stand and spotted a few empty spaces.

"I know you guys want to sit together but we can't really do that now. How about three of you go down there and another three go over there?" Salazar pointed at the bigger gaps in the sea of blue.

"Oh, didn't see those seats!" one of the first year said and pulled along two of his friends. The other three mutter a quick thank you and moved down to the seats below. Salazar smiled at that, remembering how confusing everything was when he was a first year. These first years probably figured by now that Slytherins always supported whoever was against Gryffindor but he doubted anyone of them knew why. The rivalry between red and green was now just an intense rivalry, no longer the old prejudice of old.

Giving one last look and confirming most students were seated in his area, Salazar made his way over to the Prefect's box.

"You nearly missed the start." Thomas shouted as Salazar made his way over to his friend, the crowd cheering as both teams made their way on to the field. The fourteen players stood in a circle as a professor went through the prep talk, getting both captains to shake hands.

"Hello Hogwarts, I'm your commentator Harry McMillan. Today we have the third match of the season, Gryffindor verses Ravenclaw." Loud cheers accompanied each house name.

"On the Gryffindor side, we have returning players Tod, Lucia, Robbie and Kenny, with new players Marcus playing Beater and Chasers Hilda and Aiden." The sea of red cheered!

"On the Ravenclaw end, we have returning players Greg, Julian, Lisa, Nadia and Peter, with new Keeper Ollie and Chaser Hector." Salazar and his friends cheered along with the other Ravenclaw supporters. A distinctive screech joined the cheers and Salazar turned to spot Solus flapping his arms, the eagle head adorning his head screeching loudly. Salazar was reminded of another chocolate frog card, depicted the famous magizoologist Luna Lovegood Scamander in alternating attires, one of which included a flapping eagle hat. Salazar thought Solus definitely had what it took to one up his great grandmother in craziest dress sense. He also thought it quite extraordinary that two of his classmates acted so much liked their famous relatives.

"As we know, both teams' new players had proven their skills in the exciting first round of the season with Ravenclaw beating Hufflepuff and Gryffindor beating Slytherin even though they missed the Snitch. I have a feeling Gryffindor had secured perhaps the most formidable team to date but Ravenclaw are known for their smarts, they will probably pull a few tricks out of their sleeves. So folks, look forward to an interesting match. Oh! Captain Tod and Greg have mounted their brooms, and the Snitch and Bludgers are off." Salazar watched as the Professor tossed up the Quaffle, and all the players kicked away from the ground.

"And the players are off. Hilda got the Quaffle, passing it to Aiden, who passes it back around Peter…" Harry's voice was nearly drowned out by the loud cheers erupting from the Gryffindor supporters as Hilda streaked straight for new Ravenclaw keeper Ollie.

"Ollie is staying on centre as his teammates attempts to steal the Quaffle from – Nice Bludger from Captain Greg and the Quaffle is with Hector, who drops it!" Salazar and his friends groaned at their fellow classmate's fumble and cheered again as Peter got the Quaffle before Tod.

"Nice save from Peter and off they go. Ravenclaws adopting the Wollongong Shimmy, with the Quaffle going from Lisa – Peter – Hector – back to Peter…" Salazar watched nervously as Gryffindor Beaters Marcus and Kenny used the Smith's Bludger Pong technique, named after muggleborn brothers Joseph and Terry Smith, trapping the Ravenclaw Chasers between them as they fired a bludger back and forth. The Ravenclaw Chasers desperately avoided the whizzing bludger.

"Beaters, go protect them!" Thomas shouted at Greg and Julian, who were defending Keeper Ollie from the other persistent bludger.

"Ravenclaw chasers are outnumbered but here comes reinforcements." Harry commented, "And what is this, I think Captain Greg is forcefully bringing the other Bludger to the Gryffindors!"

Indeed Greg seemed to be furiously hitting the other Bludger, which continued to fly back at Greg who was the nearest player. Greg directed it towards the Gryffindor Beaters and when he got close enough, both he and Julian took a mighty swing and forced the bludger at the unsuspecting Marcus.

"And a nice Dopplebeater knocks Marcus off his broom. The Ravenclaws are nearly at the posts and – Hector scores!" Loud cheers burst forth from the blue stands and Salazar and his friends joined in the cheers. Salazar took a look at the Seekers and found Gryffindor Seeker Lucia circling high above while Ravenclaw Seeker Nadia was nowhere to be found.

"Where is Nadia?"

"There right near the ground!" Thomas pointed.

"What's she doing there?" Cathy asked.

"Oh, I made a suggestion to the team about how we should look for the Snitch." Thomas shouted over cheers as Gryffindor scored, score tied at ten – ten.

Salazar, Cathy and Sarah all stared at Thomas and but he completely missed the pointed looks, eyes never leaving the Quaffle.

"What do you mean you gave them a suggestion?"

"It's simple, if I told you to catch a fly, would it be easier looking for it when it is flying in an empty room or one filled with paintings?" Thomas asked

"One without paintings… oooh!" The other three turned back to the field and sure enough, even though the game had only just began, Nadia was already zooming straight for a spot at the opposite end of the field from Lucia.

"Nadia is on the move!" Harry commented loudly and all eyes immediately swung towards Nadia. Lucia raced after her counterpart after spotting Nadia but it was going to be too late. Salazar watched Nadia's hand closed in on a golden ball.

"OUCH!" Nadia was inches from the Snitch when out of nowhere, a Bludger slammed straight into her shoulder. "Looks like Marcus is up again, and took Nadia by surprise too!"

Marcus gave fellow beater Kenny a high-five even as Lucia raced past him. It appeared Lucia loss sight of the Snitch so all three dispersed, Seeker back to circling and Beaters to help their Chasers. Nadia appeared to have broken something but a quick wave from the refereeing professor had her up and about again.

"So close!" Thomas shouted disappointedly. Nadia was back at her previous location at the bottom. The score looked pretty even but Salazar had to agree with Harry, Gryffindor team could be the strongest to date. Nadia appeared to think the same, head swinging slowly as she scanned the skies above determinately.

"I don't think your technique will always work." Sarah told Thomas.

"Why not?"

"Cause I was following the Snitch and it is now hovering near the base of our middle goal." Sarah said.

All four friends looked towards the goal posts and there at the base was the Snitch.

"It'll be alright, just watch." Thomas said confidently.

"What is this? Greg appears to be aiming his bat at his own Keeper!" Hearing such an absurd move, Salazar tore his eyes temporarily from the Snitch and indeed Greg looked to be taking aim at Ollie. At that momen, two things happened, Lucia turned from above the middle of the field to look at Greg and Nadia tore off straight towards the Ravenclaw posts.

"I think Nadia saw the Snitch." Harry commented. Salazar watch Lucia appeared to curse and then dived after Nadia. Nadia looked to be rising towards the rings of the post even though the Snitch remained near the ground.

"She hasn't spot the Snitch yet has she?"

"No, she was just reacting to Greg's signal." Thomas informed.

"Lucia and Nadia are headed straight towards Ollie! Lucky man, two girls chasing after..." Harry joked before immediately breaking off as Nadia changed to a downwards trajectory. "What's this? Nadia has started a dive. Ah! The Snitch is at the bottom of the posts!"

Everyone in the stadium held their breath as Nadia again closed in on the Snitch, this time protected by Captain Greg who had joined immediately after signalling. Greg repelled a rogue Bludger, leaving Nadia with a clear path to victory. Salazar watched Lucia desperately tried to close the distance in vain. Nadia wrapped her hand around the golden Snitch and a deafening roar rang through the stadium.

"Nadia has the Snitch. Ravenclaw wins with a score of 180 to 50." Salazar and his friends cheered as the Ravenclaw team huddled around Nadia. With the current score, If Hufflepuff beats Slytherin after the winter break, Ravenclaw would be in the lead for this season.

X X X

The celebration went on late into the night and Ravenclaw common room was filled with balloons and Butterbeer. Everyone had decided to take a break from homework and many were congratulating the team, others chatting and generally having a jolly good time tonight. Salazar, Thomas, Cathy and Sarah were sitting around their fellow fifth year Ravenclaws, all of whom were forcing Butterbeer down Hector's throat.

"Drink up mate!" Thomas shouted, slightly tipsy from what Salazar suspected was some smuggled muggle alcohol.

"How about you, the great mastermind behind our win?" Hector retorted after chugging down the cup of Butterbeer in his hand.

"Well, alright." Thomas slurred. Salazar steadied his unstable friend and amidst disappointed boos from the others, got his friend up and towards the dormitory. Sarah hurried to help as Cathy took Thomas' place and chugged his glass.

"Will your sister be alright? Tom has alcohol in that glass."

"I'm sure it'll be fine, it's only one glass." Carrying their friend between them, Salazar and Sarah passed Solus who was attempting unsuccessfully to get the younger students to bed. They climbed the stairs to the boy's dorm and the noise from the common room was dropped.

"One more week till break, will you be going back home?"

"Yes, you Sal?"

"Yep, I am looking forward to it. Professor Lupin gave me the Encyclopaedia we were using before so I want to test some stuff out."

"You can't do that!" Sarah exclaimed. "That is very dangerous!"

"Lupin said I can do it as long as I be careful."

Sarah frowned in displeasure. They gently sat Thomas on to his bed, Sarah turning away blushing when Thomas attempted to change into his pyjamas.

"I love you guys." Thomas said as he fell on to his bed, and within moments began to snore lightly.

"Well, I might turn in too." Sarah said hurriedly, rushing out the door. Salazar sighed, what he wouldn't give to have some time with just him and Sarah. He prodded Thomas in annoyance, thinking his friend should give him some space if he already knew who Salazar liked. But then again Salazar thought, maybe he didn't. That really wasn't a topic boys approached each other about.

Feeling slightly restless and trying to steer his mind away from a certain Weasley, Salazar rummaged through his bag for his Transfiguration homework. Reading Professor Hopkins' comments should tell him where he came up short in his essay, and more importantly, distract him. Not finding the right roll of parchment, Salazar proceeded to upturn his bag on to his bed.

"There you are," he whispered, hands closing around the roll but failing to pick up the essay. His eyes were drawn to an open book, to be precise, a red diary.

"I am Tom, ink plea…" Salazar read aloud from the diary in disbelieve. Ink plea? Maybe the diary required ink to communicate thought Salazar as he looked closely at the thinning words of the diary. It looked exactly like when his quill ran out of ink and required another dip from the inkpot.

Salazar hurriedly grabbed his ink pot and quill, paused to consider the situation before discarding the quill. Moving over to his dresser table, he laid the book flat before pouring ink directly on to the pages. He stared as the shiny ink proceeded to pool at the centre of the book where the pages connected at the spine, none visibly absorbed in any manner.

Salazar held his breath, suddenly remembering the night he wrote 'who are you?' in the book. There had been no reaction while they watched so maybe the magic couldn't work while someone was looking. Salazar shook his head, that was a stupid theory but something definitely changed from when he wrote in the diary. Maybe closing the book started the magic and now it would answer any question, or maybe closing the book was required for each question that was posed. Salazar considered the consequences of closing the diary while a pool of wet ink still sat between the pages, picturing the ink squeezing out between the pages and dripping all over his dresser. He drew his wand from his pocket and directed it at the book instead.

"Ventus." The ink dried quickly under the hot-air charm, and after a while, Salazar recognised the tell-tale signs of dried ink. The shiny black colour had turned into a dull bluish brown and as he prepared to close the diary, all the ink suddenly vanished. Words appeared on the page immediately after and Salazar's heart raced.

 _Thank you! The ink must dry for the book to absorb. Addressing your previous question again, I am Tom Riddle._

Salazar looked over at Thomas who was still snoring lightly, pondering if he should get someone to be a second pair of eyes in case something happened. He hadn't forgotten that this may very well be a dark artefact. Well, maybe if he only asked questions rather and avoided answering, it should be alright. After deciding his course of action, Salazar was stuck though on what to ask. It wasn't exactly the right object or situation to ask 'How are you?'. He deliberated and settled with a slightly vague statement.

 _Tell me about yourself._ Salazar waited before slapping his palm to his forehead. Right, the ink needed to be dry. "Ventus." Words appeared after in neater writing than that of the name written at the front.

 _I, that is to say the owner of the diary, am a student of Hogwarts as of the last entry in this diary. I am a third year, male, Slytherin student. I believe my mother was a muggle and my father is a wizard though I know not of them._

Salazar read the entry, rationalising the circumstances of the student. The boy who wrote this appeared to have been an orphan, possibly with a mother who died while he was young, and was unsure of the living status of his father. This student kept this diary until his third year at Hogwarts. Well, supposed with nothing much worth asking, Salazar thought he may as well enquired if there were any clues as to why the diary was hidden. Not very likely considering the book may be hidden last minute but then again it wasn't exactly a normal diary, even by magical standards.

 _Do you know why you were hidden away in the Room of Requirements?_

 _I am hidden away as insurance for when I, that is to say the owner, comes to pass without ensuring the safe future of the magical world._

Salazar's heart pounded loudly as the answer sank in. Did this book contain important information pertaining to the safety of the world? It was highly unlikely considering it belonged to a thirteen-ish year old boy. Nvertheless, he felt compelled to ask what could be a life changing question.

 _How do you figure we are in trouble and what exactly is the danger?_

 _I am a prophet. I foresaw the future in dreams from a very young age but it was dark, always dark. The future is filled with pain which I initially could not identify but one event cleared the confusion. I was told I am a wizard and brought to Hogwarts and with that, I found out what was meant by the nightmares which plagued me during the night._

Salazar waited for the second half of the answer as the words erased itself from the full page before returning with one sentence.

 _A witch hunt will begin again at the start of the twenty-second century and this time, we will lose._

Well Salazar definitely didn't foresee this answer. Tom Riddle would need to do a lot of convincing with such a bold statement, though in all likelihood this was just a bad joke. He considered the words with care, unsure of the credibility but one thing was pretty certain. Salazar looked ahead at his Quidditch calendar where crosses covered half of the December month. The remaining squares slowly counted down the days till the end of year two thousand one hundred and the beginning of the twenty-second century.

xxxxx

Please Review :)


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